The primary outreach “season” for 2005 ended in mid-August. We went to Colorado on the bus with the last outreach team and spent two weeks visiting family and friends and doing some minor computer work for IFM. We even got to spend a few days in the mountains with Thaine’s parents While we do have three more outreaches coming up this year, our time since our return to the House of Cornelius has been a wonderful time of settling in. We returned home at the end of August. We were greeted by some enormous pumpkins, hundreds of cucumbers, and a watermelon that all seemed to have appeared in our little garden patch over the two weeks that we were away. During September Daniel sadly lost two pet lizards, including his favorite, and Jeremy lost a dwarf hamster. But they have handled the losses with maturity.
The greatest thing God has done during this time is to help us get settled into the community and the culture. We had been praying that God would lead us to a church where we could build relationships in the community, and that He would lead us to other homeschoolers. Well, He has done both with such abundance!
We have been attending a church in our town called Templo Shalom. We absolutely love it! The music is too loud and is not our taste, the teaching is short and topical, but from the first moments we were there I think we all felt that it was our church home. As the Lord worked it out, the first Sunday we went, there was a baptism followed by a barbeque after the Spanish service. It was a blessed opportunity to meet, fellowship with, and bond with many of the brethren; as well as eat homemade tamales and hot sauce! We love the bilingual aspect of the church and work it out so that Ian comes home after the English service and one of us stays with some older kids for the Spanish service. Finally we love the fact that most of the people in the church live nearby! We actually stand a chance at getting to know them.
Erika has spent some time with the sister of the pastor’s wife at Templo Shalom; Alicia Valenzuela. She and her husband Pablo have five children roughly matched to ours and the Hutchins’, and they homeschool. Their kids are exemplary and a delight to be around. Erika and our kids and Lori and the Hutchins’ kids met the Valenzuelas at a local petting zoo and park in nearby San Elizario. Afterward we met the Valenzeulas downtown for the Fabens homecoming parade, which was a lovely snapshot of small town American life on the Mexican border, where we are clearly in the ethnic minority.
The Mexican flag
The "basic three" ingredients as seen in the Juarez outdoor market
The "basic three" ingredients being transformed into Pico de GalloWe have always been fans of Mexican food and of spicy food in general, but during this settling time we have gotten to enjoy some wonderful meals with Elvia, our dear sister in the Lord, with our new church, with an El Paso family that has been helping with the food box ministry, and Mexican “fast food“ in Juarez with Jose Luis, the head of IFM Mexico. From Elvia we have learned how to make the most incredible tomatillo guacamole, flour tortillas, and other salsas. We have learned that we need to have several pounds of fresh jalapeño peppers on hand at all times. They are very a versatile food and are delicious raw, chopped, roasted, grilled, or stewed! In fact, there are three essential ingredients; jalapeños, onions, and tomatoes. These three things are in every market, large or small, in great quantities, and arranged to form the Mexican flag. I am sure there are countless layers of significance between the Mexican culture and these ingredients.
We have also had the opportunity to be involved with some things in Mexico, both as a family, and as an IFM representative. For example, Daniel and I went to Mexico several times on errands and ministry business. Daniel did his bookwork in the car and got to spend some delightful time with dad “on the job.“
There is a wonderful orphange that is fairly close by in a small town over the border. The place has a very homey atmosphere with a few dozen delightful children. All of them and the place are dear to the hearts of the IFM staff. Since Tatyana, the Hutchins’ oldest child, has her birthday on the Mexican independence day, her family had planned to have a party and fireworks at the orphange. The plan was delayed due to IFM’s involvement with hurricane Katrina relief work, but we eventually went over and had ice cream and fireworks with all the kids. What a delight! The photo below shows the bonfire and some fireworks. It looks a lot larger than it was due to the long exposure time.
The next outreach is in two weeks. It will have been ten weeks since the last one! When we first arrived here in June, we had about 10 days before the first of a summer full of ministry activity, which completely defined our family life. Now we have had more than six weeks of “normal Norris life“ in which to get our heads back into homeschooling and some degree of family routine. I have been able to write code again both for my own software and for IFM projects. It has been really good to feel established, a part of the community, and have some degree of order. With that order, we now have the blessing and the freedom to engage in team ministry again.
--Thaine